1902·Lynchburg, Virginia

by Garland, Rev. S. A. (Presiding at sessions)

Lynchburg, Virginia: N.p. (Inter-denominational Ministerial Conference, Lynchburg, Virginia). Very Good-. 1902. Poster. [Broadside] ; 1 pages; Broadside, printed on recto only of a sheet -- 9" c 5-1/2" The sheet is now toned, and somewhat scrappy along the fore-edge (and to a lesser extent, the bottom edge -- text complete). Text continues: "March 17th: Court Street Baptist Church / March 18th: Eighth Street Baptist Church / March 19th: Jackson Street M. E. Church / March 20th: Diamond Hill Baptist Church [Lynchburg, Virginia]. ... Rev. S. A. Garland, Pastor of the White Rock Baptist Church, will preside at each meeting." There follows a list of "The Following Subjects Will Be Discussed." This copy was once the property of one of the speakers to the conference: the Rev. Robert W. Goff. Dr Goff was a graduate of Lynchburg Theological Seminary. On this broadside, he was listed as pastor of the Rivermont Bapist Church. In 1909, he was called North to the pastorate of the White Rock Bapist Church (not the same White Rock Church from Lynchburg, but a newer church which had just moved to 707-709 North Forty-sixth Street, Philadelphia ] -- where he served until his death in 1931. During Dr. Goff's active career at White Rock, his church became known as "the spiritual powerhouse of West Philadelphia" [according to the history on the church's current website]. The African American community in Lynchburg had good reason to gather for this ecumenical conference in order to discuss their situation in the early months of 1902, as later in that same year, Virginia adopted a new state Constitution which virtually eliminated the entire African American electorate in the Commonwealth. This restrictive new constitution, which also disenfranchised thousands of poor whites, replaced Virginia's 1869 Reconstruction-era constitution, which had a universal male suffrage clause. Although the official passage of the new Consitution came in July, a few months after this conference, the delegates to the state constitutional convention had been meeting since the summer of 1901, and it was widely known throughout the state that the main item on their agenda of change was to take the vote away from Virginia's African Americans. The city containing the hosts of this now-forgotten African American conference had a dual nature. Lynchburg was the only large city in Virginia never to have been captured by Union forces during the Civil War; it was also the seat of the last State Capitol during the final week of the Confederacy (after the fall of Richmond). Despite this Confederate heritage, Lynchburg was also home to a vibrant African American community. It's oldest school of higher learning was the Seminary, founded in 1886 and incorporated in 1888 by the Virginia Baptist State Convention as the coeducational "Lynchburg Baptist Seminary". Classes were first held in 1890 under the name Virginia Seminary. By the time of this 1902 conference, the school offered a collegiate program (starting in 1900), and its the name was again changed, to Virginia Theological Seminary and College. One of Rev. Goff's fellow speakers was the school's first President, the Rev. Phillip F. Morris, who was also pastor of the Court Street Baptist Church. His church still exists today, as do each of the other three churches which were conference hosts in 1902. This small broadside was printed on paper of mediocre quality, is now toned and slightly brittle, with small tears and chips affecting the fore-and bottom edge. There are a few lines of verse or a hymn pencilled in the handwriting of the former owner. This scarce document was produced for a projected life of weeks rather than a century, so the survival of this copy, by chance or good fortune, is a happy surprise. If others have survived as well, we can find no trace of them; there are no copies located in OCLC. . (Inventory #: 39237)

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